Fred Davis And Malcolm Kelly Are Ready To Be Veterans
Posted by Matt Terl on July 16, 2010 – 9:48 am
When Fred Davis showed up in the Wizards’ video welcoming John Wall to DC, I was a little surprised to think of the third-year tight end as an elder statesman of the D.C. sports scene. And I’m not the only one. Fan emails regularly refer to Davis, and fellow 2008 second-round draft choices Malcolm Kelly and Devin Thomas, by youth-based epithets like “the young receivers”.
It’s not just me and the fans. During the last mini-camp, someone from the local media asked new head coach Mike Shanahan about “the youngsters” at the receiver position, and Shanahan was overtly surprised at the description. “Well, ‘youngsters,’” he said, nonplussed, ” I think of youngsters as rookies. These are old veterans.”
The coach is right. This is their third year, generally thought of as the year when wide receivers establish themselves as pro players — if they’re ever going to. And, amidst suggestions that the Redskins lack under-25 talent, these three 24 year-olds are likely to going to have to be contributors on the field for the team to establish a new offensive attack.
Fortunately, while it’s taken some time for those of us who don’t play the game to get used to the idea of Fred Davis, grizzled veteran, the players themselves know that they’re going to be expected to perform like NFL veterans.
“I mean, shoot,” Kelly told me, “we HAVE to.”
He continued, “Even though it’s a new offense, I have to take responsibility to know exactly what I’m doing so I can go out and play at a high level. I mean, it’s crazy to think about, but, yeah, we’re veterans now.”
Davis, best known in his rookie camp for oversleeping an alarm clock, knows that expectations are exponentially higher for him now — even from himself. “You see yourself a lot differently,” he said. “I think by your third year you kinda HAVE to. All that rookie stuff is done with.”
It’s taken Kelly a little bit of time this offseason to find his groove in the new offense — “At first it was running together a little bit,” he said — but as of the final mini-camp he claimed that things were falling into place and “it’s all becoming a lot easier.”
Which is good, Davis said, because there’s no longer any margin for error if these guys want to be considered viable NFL starters. “You been in the league for two years,” Davis said, meaning not just Kelly, but himself and third-year players leaguewide, “if you’re not doing by your third year, I don’t think you’re really gonna be a great player. I mean, if you wanna be a great player, I think the third year kinda shows where you’re at mentally and where you’re at physically as a player. Me? I feel like I’m good.”
And, Kelly is quick to point out, being considered a veteran doesn’t mean that the learning is done. “I still look up to Santana [Moss], Joey [Galloway], those guys like that to lead me,” he said, “So I’m maybe helping the rookies out a little bit, but still following behind all those other guys.”
Tags: Fred Davis, Malcolm Kelly
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